Steps4Kids to Draw DVD Review and Coupon Code

I had the great opportunity to review a new award winning art DVD from Steps4Kids. Steps4Kids "is a USA based company that specializes in instructional DVDs to help educators support children in both the school and home settings.  The company was founded in 2005 by parents and professionals to broaden the use of video modeling because of studies showing how the use of video modeling can benefit a wide range of children both in terms of ages and abilities. Steps4Kids offers three award winning handwriting DVDs, one math DVD (a multiplication DVD), and a drawing DVD (released in 2012)." 

As a homeschooling mom I figured this would be a great addition to our curriculum. This DVD is for ages 4 through adult.

The viewer can choose to draw shapes, things, people or animals. 

As the children are still young, we opted to start with drawing shapes.

Here they are with their makeshift desks ready to draw away.

I love that the shapes are shown and the narrator mentions what color the shape is that they will be drawing as that helps not just with shapes, but with color recognition too. 

The instructions are very clear as the narrator describes what kind of motion should be copied to create the shape. With the "Shapes" section of the DVD the shape is already shown on the screen and the artist then outlines it in black.

I had cut paper in half so they could draw one shape per page to make into books.

Yes, Hannah also tried.

Here is what she was drawing:

In order to draw the circle these are the instructions they heard, "It's one long curved line. Watch how we do this. Start at the top, curve it around until we finish at the top. That's right, start by going down, then back up and around. Most important thing with the circle is end it right where you started it, just like that."

Here is a sampling of what the children accomplished by following the instructions on the DVD.

Amelia

circle         square

Tabitha:

circle           square

Then the girls also wanted to try drawing people. I have to tell you, mommy learned quite a bit about drawing faces. Here is a sample of what Tabitha drew: 

I didn't think they were too shabby for a 5 year old. 

They also tried the things and animals sections of the DVD on a different day. Tabitha accomplished quite a few of the more difficult drawings of things, but she struggled more with the animals. I wonder if one reason why they struggled more, besides the obvious reason of it being more detailed, is that with the other sections of the DVD there is no drawing already shown. Due to this, they children are drawing blindly and can not see before hand how far over or up or down they will have to draw. 

Amelia definitely struggled with the drawings. She is one who gets frustrated very fast and will give up and throw a fit, pout, etc. The thing is, she insisted on trying the harder drawings (people, things and animals) though she had struggled with the harder shapes.  She is only 4, so she is at the lower end of the age range. 

For little ones it may seem like the DVD is going too fast. I would recommend that you have the pause button at the ready. This is most definitely a parent supervised activity for younger children, which is fine with me as it makes me a part of the lesson. The children loved when I backed up the DVD so they could listen/watch again because it appeared as if the shape was being erased. 

All in all, I think this DVD is a great way to learn to draw. As I said, even I learned some new things. I am far from being an artist, but the instructions are so clear it is easy to follow along. We will definitely be using this DVD in our homeschool for art time. 

I did want to note that the DVD case had a very strong smell when it was opened. Obviously this doesn't take away from the value of the DVD. 

You can check out Steps4Kids at their website and Facebook page to see the other DVD's they offer.

I love the look of their handwriting DVD's.

They have "Write Their ABCs," "Cursive," and "Modern Manuscript."

They also have a Multiplication DVD.

In fact, they have offered my readers a 30% discount off of all purchases of $10 or more by using this code, blogn30.

I was excited to learn, after I was sent the DVD, that it had won the DVD of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.